Articles by 최남현
최남현
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[Editorial] ‘Gangnam leftists’
As Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announces tomorrow the schedule for the Seoul residents’ referendum on free school meals which is likely to be held on Aug. 24, he will be most anxious about how the so-called “Gangnam leftists” would react to his policy of limiting the benefits to only children from low-income families. Gangnam leftists, according to Korea Herald columnist Kim Seong-kon, refer to leftist
Editorial July 26, 2011
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[Editorial] Japan lawmakers’ visit
Special Affairs Minister Lee Jae-oh and Grand National Party chair Hong Joon-pyo need to calm down from their irritation about Japanese lawmakers’ plan to visit Ulleung-do, an island in the East sea, next week. They rightly understand that the Japanese politicians’ ulterior motive is to raise controversy about the nearby Dokdo, but we should just treat them as some of the numerous Japanese tourist
Editorial July 26, 2011
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[Meghan Daum] Mob on Marcus Bachmann advised to stick to facts
Marcus Bachmann, the husband of GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, is having a bad month. Not only is his counseling clinic under attack for offering gay conversion therapy, he’s being pursued by an angry mob. Composed of gay activists, comedians, left-leaning bloggers and members of the alternative media, this mob is not only angry about Bachmann’s “pray the gay away” ideas, it’s growin
Viewpoints July 26, 2011
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[Kim Seong-kon] ‘Global mix’ and hallyu’s popularity
Why is hallyu (or the “Korean wave”) so popular these days? Why hasn’t “joonglyu” (the “Chinese wave”) or “illyu” (the “Japanese wave”) swept across the world, while hallyu continues to spread throughout not only Asia, but also Europe and Latin America? These are the questions one may ask while witnessing the enormous popularity of Korean movies, television dramas and pop songs overseas. Recently
Viewpoints July 26, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Point at which the center roars
WASHINGTON ― It was Ed Miliband, the British Labor Party leader, who posed the haunting question in Wednesday’s parliamentary debate about the phone-hacking scandal: “Why didn’t more of us speak out about this earlier?” Miliband blamed political intimidation by Rupert Murdoch’s press empire: “The answer is, of course, what we all know and used to be afraid to say: News International was too powerf
Viewpoints July 25, 2011
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Republicans grandstand in theater of the absurd
A British parliamentary committee hearing into the transgressions of media baron Rupert Murdoch offered a surprising Benny-Hill pie-in-the-face moment on Tuesday. But the day’s Academy Award for legislative farce still went to the U.S. House of Representatives.By a margin of 234 to 190, House Republicans rammed through a bill labeled “Cut, Cap and Balance,” the purpose of which is to Starve, Gut a
Viewpoints July 25, 2011
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[Editorial] Threats to global peace
A madman calling himself a Christian fundamentalist or an anti-Islam crusader can be as dangerous to global peace as al-Qaida. The horrible fact is that the man who killed 93 in a few hours on Friday hailed from Norway, reputedly the last place to spawn terrorism on earth.As investigation into Anders Breivik’s bombing of a government building in Oslo and his shooting at hundreds of youths on a pol
Editorial July 25, 2011
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[Park Sang-seek] War between American and Chinese soft power
Chinese President Hu Jintao presented China’s foreign policy doctrines and strategies at the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China on July 1. Actually, it was a summary of the section dealing with Chinese foreign policy in his speech at the 17th Party Congress in 2007. Hu has elaborated on Chinese foreign policy on many other occasions. The key word for Chinese foreign policy is “a harm
Viewpoints July 25, 2011
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[Jeffrey Scott Shapiro] Tabloids don’t deserve the First Amendment
The FBI opened an inquiry late last week into Rupert Murdoch’s media empire amid allegations that British reporters tried to access cellphone messages and records of Sept. 11 victims. Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., among the members of Congress who sought the investigation, wrote to FBI Director Robert Mueller, citing news reports that reporters attempted to obtain phone records of victims through br
Viewpoints July 25, 2011
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[Doyle McManus] Doomsday doubters and the debt-ceiling debate
President Barack Obama says that if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, the consequences will be dire. A long list of economists and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce agree. Even the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate agrees.But there’s also another view.Many House Republicans ― even those who believe the debt ceiling must be raised ― aren’t buying the doomsday scenario. And they’re no
Viewpoints July 25, 2011
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[Nouriel Roubini] The eurozone makes its last stand
NEW YORK ― The eurozone crisis is reaching its climax. Greece is insolvent. Portugal and Ireland have recently seen their bonds downgraded to junk status. Spain could still lose market access as political uncertainty adds to its fiscal and financial woes. Financial pressure on Italy is now mounting.By 2012, Greek public debt will be above 160 percent of GDP and rising. Alternatives to a debt restr
Viewpoints July 24, 2011
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[Editorial] Koreans overeducated
Few would dispute that high school education is enough for the lowest two administrative positions on the one-to-nine scale. Nor would anyone deny that it does not take much formal education to sweep streets. But this common sense does not prevail in Korea, as shown by examples below.Last year, the Seoul metropolitan government selected 415 recruits to fill the vacant positions of grades eight and
Editorial July 24, 2011
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[Emma Bonino] Could prospect of Italian collapse finally unite EU?
ROME ― The euro contagion triggered by Greece’s sovereign-debt crisis has now infected Italy. Silvio Berlusconi’s government, together with a fiscally conscious opposition, managed to secure ― in only a few days ― parliamentary approval of a package of measures worth more than 50 billion euros, in order to restore market confidence in the soundness of Italy’s economic fundamentals.In the absence o
Viewpoints July 24, 2011
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[Michael Smerconish] How Bachmann lost a young conservative
Michele Bachmann, meet Ben Haney.In other circumstances, Ben could have been a real asset to your campaign. He’s a 28-year-old Republican with experience as a traveling advance man for John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008. Ben was born and raised in the critically important suburbs of Philadelphia. Having taught government at a high school, Ben now runs his own real estate investment company and co
Viewpoints July 24, 2011
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[M.J. Rosenberg] Israel: ‘Delegitimization’ is just a distraction
Suddenly, all the major pro-Israel organizations are anguishing about “delegitimization.” Those who criticize Israeli policies are accused of trying to delegitimize Israel, which supposedly means denying Israel’s right to exist.The concept of delegitimization has been used as a weapon against Israel’s critics at least as far back as 1975, when then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Daniel Patr
Viewpoints July 24, 2011
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